A smart business doesn't pursue social, it pursues results, which requires customer engagement, which leads to social
— Brian Solis (@briansolis) December9, 2011
President Obama has a clear choice on how to approach the 2012 election: He can spend all his energy defining Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or whoever ends up as the Republican nominee in as ugly a way as possible, or he can spend all his energy defining the future in as credible a way as possible. If he spends his energy defining his Republican opponent, there is a chance the president will win with 50.00001 percent of the vote and no mandate to do what needs doing. If he spends his time defining the future in a credible way and offering a hard, tough, realistic pathway to get there, he will not only win, but he will have a mandate to take the country where we need to go.
Thomas Friedman makes a compelling case for having a big vision, communicating it clearly, and passionately pursuing it.
I'd like to suggest that this is a pretty solid recipe for success for any business or organization.
Or life, for that matter.
If your business or nonprofit has a Fan page, you might wonder if Shares, Likes, and Comments to and of your posts have an equivalent effect. Edgerank Checker posted today the results of an interesting study of more than 5500 Pages.
The answer is that comments and shares are MUCH more impactful to your business than likes. As much as 4-5 times more impactful.
The takeaway? Any interaction is good. But if you are going to invest the time and energy to engage - go deep. Have a real, authentic dialog with your Fans. Post excellent, useful content. Don't just go for the pithy Like link.
If you find your content isn't generating the deeper engagement of Sharing and Commenting, then use that as an opportunity to listen to your Fans, and focus, refine, and test your content strategy until you see some deeper engagement.
3. Gluttony (Sending Too Many Emails Too Quickly)
This may arguably be the ultimate marketing automation sin. No one likes to feel like they're being spammed. As you create your marketing automation campaign, remember that you also have a typical sales cycle your leads go through before they are ready to make a purchase. Therefore, it's important to make sure that your marketing automation campaign aligns with this cycle as well. As you build your campaign, think about when would be relevant times to send messages to your leads. For example, if your typical sales cycle is 30 days, consider sending an email every 10 days instead of sending 3 emails within the first 10 days. No one likes dealing with an email slob, so make sure you moderate your email schedule to avoid marketing automation gluttony.
Maurice Rahmey has a nice article on HubSpot today detailing 7 problems businesses and nonprofits have regarding marketing automation.
I think each of his "7 Deadly Sins" is something we see out in the world quite frequently, but the No. 3 Sin - Gluttony - is perhaps the mistake I see more than any. It's natural, because many business owners and marketers pay attention to communication in bursts.
However, spreading communication out, being mindful of your "best interaction time" with your communities can really pay dividends. How do you make this happen? You can schedule posts via HootSuite, Sendible, and others.
Authentically, you can also build 5 minute communication increments into your day. No need to go overboard here, but if you plan out what you want to say on a weekly basis, and then build 2-3 communication windows/day into your schedule to post and interact, you provide a win-win for both you and the community you are working to engage with.
"Siri is more than just a virtual assistant. It's the start of a revolution in ubiquitous virtual assistant technology that will change everything for marketers.
Bottom line: Take Siri siriously. Virtual assistants are here. And they're telling your customers what to buy."
There are plenty of cases where results that are a few years old might still be useful for you. [fast tomato sauce recipe] certainly saved me after a call from my wife reminded me I had volunteered to make dinner! On the other hand, when I search for the [49ers score], a result that is a week old might be too old.
- Frequent updates. There are also searches for information that changes often, but isn’t really a hot topic or a recurring event. For example, if you’re researching the [best slr cameras], or you’re in the market for a new car and want [subaru impreza reviews], you probably want the most up to date information.
Different searches have different freshness needs. This algorithmic improvement is designed to better understand how to differentiate between these kinds of searches and the level of freshness you need, and make sure you get the most up to the minute answers.
As if you needed more of a reason to keep adding value for your customers or patrons.
Google is now factoring in 'freshness' of information into their search results. So if you haven't updated that web and social information about your widget or service, but your competitor has - be ready to lose eyeballs and referrals.
(profile) is a business development and marketing consultant who helps businesses, organizations, and individuals connect with customers. Keven advises solo entrepreneurs and small businesses, as well as large enterprises and nonprofits.
Contact Keven via email, Twitter, at Google+, or by phone at 888-544-2096.
